Harry Potter 1. Prologue

The party, from the moment it started, was destined to be loud. Seventh years were sprawled all over the place, some lying on sofas dotted around the room, some on the dance floor, but most at the makeshift bar, which primarily consisted of two coffee tables that were piled with bottles ranging from a clear colour to a fluorescent pink one. One of the people at the bar was Albus Potter. He was seated behind it, having taken it upon himself to supervise the alcohol consumption of his peers – not that there was ever much point in trying – and leant forwards onto his elbows as he surveyed the crowd.

Although the seventh years had finished their NEWTs over a week ago, they had not had an opportunity to really let loose until now. The days following their last examinations had instead been filled with making plans for the upcoming summer holidays, packing their bags and saying their final goodbyes to the school at which they had spent almost a decade. Now, the night before they were all set to leave Hogwarts, the entire year group was enjoying a final night of freedom as students before their journeys into the adult world began.

Albus, however, was not in such a position to be enjoying himself, due to the fact that he was, in actuality, terrible at holding his liquor. He had vomited exactly seven minutes ago in the toilet that had fortunately appeared just when he needed it, and was now scowling at his classmates, a throbbing beginning to develop in his head.

One of the only still sober people was Alice Longbottom. Having grown up behind the bar in her mother's pub, she was used to the antics of the drunken and had no real desire to join them. Instead, she preferred to laugh at their stupidity and save the blackmail for later – she was often told, because of this, that she should have been a Slytherin rather than a Hufflepuff.

In her sobriety, she noticed the sullen looking black haired boy over at the bar, and strolled over to seat herself beside him, a Butterbeer in her hand.

"Hey, Al," She said amiably, "How's that tequila treating you?"

"It's currently running down the drain," He mumbled in reply, and Alice let out a sympathetic sound of realisation. "Probably should have stayed sober like you, eh?"

"Probably," She agreed, and took a sip of her drink, "Any plans for the summer?"

Albus shrugged. "Not really. I've got an internship that starts in September, though. You?"

"Nah. Just helping out with the pub, I suppose."

Albus nodded. The pair of them sat in silence for a moment or so – or, at silent as they could, given the fact that the room was positively vibrating with the somewhat painful sounds of popular Wizarding rock music.

"Why don't you go travelling?" Alice suggested, turning her head to glance at him, "Used to be Wizarding custom, you know. To go travelling about when you leave school."

Albus frowned. "Maybe. Not a bad idea, actually, but I've always wanted to do something more…Muggle."

At this, Alice smirked to herself. It was common knowledge that Albus was infatuated with all things Muggle; an obsession she had never truly understood. Why would you want to drive in a car for hours when you could Apparate in less than a second?

She shrugged. "Suit yourself." She shot him a quick smile and then rose to her feet. "Have some fun, yeah Al?"

He rolled his eyes at her as she walked away. Within seconds, he was struck by an idea.

He stood up quickly, stumbling a little, and moved around the side of the bar towards the centre of the room. Scanning the area, he searched for a bright head of red hair, looking left and right and back again until – there.

He ambled over hastily, hopping over stray bottles as he went towards a sofa on which was seated his favourite cousin.

"Oi, Rose," He said loudly. She glanced up.

"Hiya, Al," She said, "What's up?"

"I've had an epiphany," He exclaimed, dropping down next to her.

Rose sat up. "An epiphany, you say? What is it? Wait; let me guess. Is it…a cure for cancer?"

"No."

"What about…a spell that will transform you into a…dragon?"

"There is a spell for that, Rosie."

"What? Oh, yeah. Okay, you want to become a model."

He looked at her incredulously, and she burst out laughing at his expression.

"Okay, okay," She said between giggles, "You want to become a writer."

"Noooooo," He sighed, drawing out the word.

"You want to have Fiona's babies."

Albus' brows furrowed. Just how inebriated was his cousin, anyway? "Who's Fiona?"

"This fifth year. I had to tutor her, it was awful."

"Okay."

"You want to shag your best mate."

"_Ew_, Rose, you are my best mate."

"Aw, Albie!" She exclaimed, and she lunged over to hug him. Albus wrinkled his nose – she stunk of vodka.

She pulled away a second after, beaming at him, "I meant your other best mate, but it's good to know you love me more."

Albus rolled his eyes, "I do not want to shag Scorpius."

"Denial, Al. I see the way you look at him," She said, eyes narrowing. She poked a finger playfully into his chest.

"Can we get back to my idea now?"

"Sure. What is it, then?"

"Aren't you going to guess?"

"Nah, I'm lazy." She slumped back into the sofa and huffed. A curl of vibrant red hair flew up and landed back on her forehead.

"I want to go on a road trip."

"A _what_?" She looked over at him.

"A road trip. It's this thing that Muggles do, and they go and travel around in a car –"

"I know what a road trip is, Al," She said, "But why do you want to go on one?"

"It'll be fun."

"Right." She frowned at him.

"Are you in or not?" He said irritatedly.

She considered it, furrowing her brows for a second. Then, "Only if Alice comes."

He shrugged, "Fine." If he was honest, it probably wasn't a bad idea to have Alice with them – she was much more responsible than the pair of them.

"Cool."

"Awesome. Bye, Rosie!" He ran off quickly, before she could think about what she'd gotten herself into.

* * *

On the other side of the room was Scorpius, who was indefinitely more drunk than Rose, if that was even possible. Albus spotted him standing right next to the speakers, singing loudly and completely off key. Albus grabbed him, and thankfully, Scorpius ceased his singing. Instead, he pulled Albus into a rather lopsided hug.

"Albie!" He pulled away slightly, looking at him in a way that Albus guessed was meant to be serious. "You know… you know you're the best-est friend ever."

"Really?" Albus smirked, steering him away from the music and towards a corner.

"Yeah, you're like so kind and smart and funny and –" He began to stage-whisper. "I think I might be a little drunk."

"You don't say," Albus was trying his hardest not to laugh. "But anyway, Scorp, I was thinking about our plans for the summer."

"Summer!" Scorpius was practically jumping up and down with excitement.

"How would you like to go on a road trip? We'd do it just like the Muggles do and –"

"That is the greatest idea! Ever. EVER!"

Scorpius dragged Albus back onto the dance floor, a zone which Albus would have generally avoided like the plague, but it was the end of NEWTs and he had successfully managed to rope two of his friends into coming on a road trip with him, so a little celebration was probably in order, not that Scorpius hadn't already done enough of that. He hated to think of the state that his mates would be in when they woke up.

* * *

The next morning, Rose awoke definitely worse for wear. She had a pounding headache that was so painful she wouldn't have been surprised if it was product of a jinx rather than alcohol.

"Fuuuck," She moaned, opening her eyes and forcing herself out of bed.

How had she allowed herself to get so drunk? Dread hit her. Merlin, what if she had done something really stupid? She had a funny feeling that she had. After a brief shower, she stumbled downstairs, all too painfully remembering the last time she got properly hammered and had snogged Trevor Dawlish, before promptly throwing up all over his shoes. She was never going to live that down.

The Great Hall was packed full of students as usual, but the seventh years all sat together, regardless of house, in a kind of hung-over and nostalgic clump. This was the last meal they were going to have at school before boarding the Hogwarts' Express one last time, a thought which slightly terrified Rose. She spotted Albus picking at breakfast, with a very smug looking Alice sitting next to him. She collapsed down beside them.

"Where's Scorpius?" The two boys were rarely seen apart, so it was a little unusual to see Albus sitting by himself.

"He's refusing to leave the bed, and has told me numerous times that the Cruciatus curse would be less painful than the hangover he's experiencing." Albus said, grinning a little at his friend's predicament.

"Bloody drama queen," Alice remarked, as Rose began gingerly picking at a piece of toast.

The three of them sat in silence for a minute, which Rose was grateful for. Her headache was lessening and it was plain she was in a much better condition than Scorpius, but she wasn't going to be appreciative of any loud noises anytime soon. Eventually, she felt compelled to ask the question that was weighing on her mind.

"Guys, did I do anything stupid last night? Something tells me I did."

"Nothing more than the usual vaguely embarrassing stuff people do when they're drunk." Alice replied, "Why? Which bits don't you remember?"

"Well, I was talking to you, then I took another shot of… something, sat on one of those sofas and –"

"That's when I found you," Albus interrupted. "I told you about the road trip, you said you would go if you could bring Alice –"

"Wait, what?" Rose lost her appetite completely. She had been right, by the sounds of things she'd done something very stupid indeed.

"We're going on a road trip together during the summer, just like the Muggles do." He noticed her shocked expression. "Surprise!"

Rose dropped her head onto the table. The words 'Road Trip' conjured images of staying in grotty hotels, sitting in a car for days on end in the rain and, worst of all, being forced to do things "the Muggle way" (Albus' favourite phrase). Oh Merlin, what had she gotten herself into?


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1- Rose**

In retrospect, agreeing to the road trip had been a really awful idea. I could have backed out that last morning at Hogwarts, but I'd felt bad and Albus had helped me out with homework so many times that I felt compelled to return the favour. I shoved another book in my bag, glaring at the rain falling down outside my window like it was personally to blame for my predicament. I was still glaring when my mum walked in.

"You alright?" she said, sitting down on the bed next to me and absent-mindedly refolding my clothes.

"I would honestly rather sit through my Potions exam again than go on this road trip."

Mum laughed, "If you're so against it, then why on Earth did you agree to it?"

"I may have been slightly…inebriated at the time."

Mum gave me a pointed look.

"Mum! I'm eighteen years old for Merlin's sake!" I protested, and she relaxed slightly.

"Alright," she smiled, "But I'm guessing you would prefer it if I didn't tell your father."

I groaned. My dad wasn't exactly strict, but he still seemed to view me as his little baby, and would definitely blow a fuse if he found out that I'd been drinking copious amounts of alcohol.

"You need to stop being so pessimistic." She declared, pulling out one of the itchy woollen jumpers my gran had made for me and putting it in my bag, much to my horror. "Road trips are fun! Besides, all you would be doing if you were here is applying for jobs, working out what you want to do with your life –"

I groaned.

"Just as I thought. And surely you would want to make your last summer of freedom one to remember?"

She had a point. After all, all I had planned to do this summer was sit in my room, read and ignore all my responsibilities. A road trip sounded like more of an adventure, and I was very partial to adventures.

"Fine, you've won me over." I said, and she smirked. There was nothing my mother liked more than winning an argument. "But if Al starts going on about how we should do things 'the Muggle way' –"

"Oi!" she said teasingly, "I did things 'the Muggle way' for eleven years of my life, and it never did me any harm!" Her tone softened, "You'll have a good time, I promise."

* * *

Just at that moment I heard tell-tale footsteps on the stairs, and Al appeared in the doorway, carrying bundles of maps in his arms. Ducking his head under the rafter (he seemed to have gotten even taller and ganglier since the last time I saw him) he sat down on the bed, practically vibrating with excitement.

"I have a plan for the route!" he exclaimed, laying out an enormous map of England on my bed that was already covered in his distinctive scruffy scrawl.

"I'll leave you two to it," Mum said, leaving the room, unperturbed that her nephew had burst into her house uninvited; as being my next door neighbour, Albus had a habit of turning up at my front door unexpectedly.

Turning back to face Albus, I'd realised he'd already started explaining 'The Road Trip of Doom' as I'd dubbed it. The route itself was surprisingly simple, considering Albus had created it. We would travel down to Bournemouth, along the coast to the tip of England, then travel back up to Bristol and Stratford-upon-Avon before returning home. Seeing the route mapped out, excitement bubbled in me, not least at the mention of Stratford-upon-Avon. I added a mental note to pack more suncream, since driving along the coast meant sunbathing, and sunbathing meant inevitable sunburn (whilst Hugo always returned from holidays with a glowing tan, I managed to turn an alarming shade of pink every time.) Much more reassured, I only had a few questions.

"Al, why do we have to go on this random detour in Wiltshire?" I placed my finger on the map, pointing at the circle around a spot in a forest.

He swallowed, "Umm…Rose, I may have neglected to tell you something…"

"What?" My voice was already growing harsher and apprehension built up in me.

"I kinda invited Scorpius along too…"

"For fuck's sake!" I burst out. Scorpius was…well he was fine, but I'd never had a conversation with him, and now we would be crammed in a car together for the best part of three weeks. Why didn't Al tell me earlier? By this point, Albus had turned a similar pale colour to the time when he broke his dad's famous glasses.

"Please don't punch me." He whimpered, no doubt remembering the many times our arguments had turned to full on fist-fighting (well, me beating the crap out of Albus.) Instead of making me pity him, this only made me more furious.

"I'm not going to bloody punch you!" He flinched anyway. "You need to stop being such a child and tell me this shit to my face, and not at the last minute!"

"I thought you liked Scorpius –"

"I barely know Scorpius! And I wouldn't have minded if you'd just bloody told me –"

I was interrupted by a cough from my doorway. Hugo was standing there, his guitar brandished in his hand like some sort of weapon.

"Do you mind?" His voice was always softer than mine, but right now it was plain he was irritated "We're trying to have a band practice downst–"

"I don't give two flying fucks about your band practice, Hugo!"

Feeling the need to escape before I said something I would regret, I pushed past him and stormed downstairs, past a group of sixteen year old musicians who quickly backed away from me, past my mum's office (feeling slightly guilty about the number of obscenities herself and whoever she was on the phone to must have heard) and into the living room. My dad was already in there, slumped on the tattered sofa watching Quidditch on the TV. I collapsed down beside him and sat for a moment in a fuming lump. I had always felt a connection to my father, cemented further by our pasts as Keepers of the Gryffindor Quidditch team and our short tempers. We had a relationship where both of us could sit next to each other in amiable, or in this case irate, silence. However, my father's curiosity got the better of him.

"I thought you were upstairs with Al?"

"I was, but then he told me that he invited Scorpius bloody Malfoy without my permission, and didn't have the balls to tell me until now, so I…err...ditched him."

"That's not fair," Dad said, trying not to grin. He'd been at the receiving end of my rants about other people far too many times to take it seriously.

"What, the Scorpius thing or the ditching thing?" I had calmed down slightly.

"Both." I looked at him quizzically. "Obviously Al should have told you earlier, but I think deep down you're not angry at him at all, you just don't like change at the last minute. However, going off on one at Al and storming out makes it seem to him like you really are angry, and he's going to be beating himself up about it for the next century until you go and apologise to him."

"Alright there, Mr Therapist," I said and he grinned, "But I guess you have a point."

I rested my head on his chest, like I used to when I was little, and we both stared at the TV for a little while.

"Besides," he said, "Scorpius is alright, I mean Al could have invited Bernard Bulstrode or someone, right?"

I burst out laughing, "Merlin, I would chuck myself off the White Cliffs of Dover!"

"You'll have a great time, even with Nerdy Malfoy." Dad said, attempting to be serious, but his jokey nickname lightened the tone. "Now, go on and apologise to your cousin."

I dragged myself off the sofa, feeling considerably better. Even with Scorpius, the trip still seemed appealing, and for now there was suncream to be packed and apologies to be made.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two - Scorpius**

I was sitting in my room on the cluttered floor at approximately eleven o' clock in the morning, staring into space mournfully as I leant against my bed. Packing had always been my least favourite part of travelling, but this was on an entirely new level. My parents weren't coming with me, I didn't actually know where we were going, and my best friend is the most spontaneous person I know.

How are you supposed to pack for a trip like that? What if Al decided to take me to the beach? How many pairs of shoes would I need? Do I even take my broomstick? Was he serious about the whole 'being a Muggle' thing?

These questions and many others were flitting about my preoccupied mind when there was a soft but firm knock on the door.

"Come in," I called, and I turned my head to see my father.

Dad walked into the room, surveying the piles of my clothes strewn across the floor with an unimpressed frown. "Having trouble?"

"Eh," I said vaguely, "Not sure what to pack, to be honest."

He took a precarious seat at the edge of my messy bed and raised an eyebrow at me. "Remind me again: where exactly are you going on this trip?"

"Around England."

"_Around England_." He repeated, with a stern look that told me that this information was not satisfactory.

I shrugged, "Bournemouth. Al has plans for Exeter, somewhere around Cornwall. Falmouth, for the Cannons versus Falcons game. Bath, I think."

"Around, then."

"Yes," I said shortly, and rose from my cross-legged position on the ground to pick up a stray shirt. It was one of those posh ones that I hardly ever wore, reserved for Mum's tedious dinner parties or Slug Club events. I scowled at the wrinkles in the shirt and put it on a hanger, leaving it on the doorknob of my wardrobe.

I turned back, slightly irritated, to my Dad. "You know, I can pack by myself now."

"I know."

"So why are you still here?" I knew my tone was pushing it but he was annoying me with all his hovering. How meddlesome can one parent be?

He stood and leaned against my bed, palms outstretched behind him on the navy blue sheets. "I want to know where exactly you're going, Scorpius. It's all well and good you leaving school and gallivanting off with Albus, but you should be working. Making your way in the world, improving the family –"

I cut him off, eyes narrowing. "Improving the family name. Yeah, I know."

He sighed tiredly and small lines appeared between his brows. "Please talk to your friend and make a comprehensive list of where you are going. I need to know, Scorpius. I'm only looking out for you." With that, he walked towards the door, pausing to set a pair of my shoes on the shelf as he went. Dad closed the door with a little snap behind him and I groaned, strolled over to my bed and flopped down face first. Why was my family so damn complicated?

* * *

"I _know, _Al. I get it – you don't have a list of places. But couldn't you just make it up, or come over here and give it to my Dad so he gets off my case?"

From the green flames of my fireplace, Al rolled his eyes. "For Merlin's sake, Scorp. Can't you just tell him that you're going to a wonderful little fancy-shmancy hotel with me, you're going to go to some prissy classical concert, and eat only at the most expensive restaurant in the whole of bloody Britain? _You _make something up!"

I grumbled. "He won't believe that. You've got to come over and convince him, he'll believe it if you say it, I'm sure of it! Just… give him a vague list with nothing on it that might 'tarnish the family name'," here I waved four fingers in little quotation marks sarcastically in the air, "Or anything too wild for a Malfoy."

Al hesitated. Then, "Fine. I'm coming over."

Before I could say anything, his head had disappeared. I counted three and a half seconds before there was a _woosh_ sound and my best mate landed in the fireplace, soot covered and stumbling.

"Hey, Al," I mumbled as he coughed and ran a hand through his hair. He grinned at me.

My best friend was what you would probably call "unconventionally attractive" – or at least, that's what he tells me. Apparently, his ridiculous shock of black hair is supposed to be "sexy" and his green eyes are seemingly "alluring", but I wouldn't take his word for it.

"Yo, Scorp." He said, glancing around at my room, "Nice packing you've got going on here."

I shoved his shoulder and we went into the corridor, turning left and right and left and right until we reached the kitchen, where I found my Mum talking to some of our house elves.

Now, before you go all elf-rights fanatical on me, let me just say this: we pay them. We pay them and they want to be here, and we know that because we asked them. Nicely, without torture. Not kidding.

Anyway, we entered the kitchen and Mum looked over at the sound of the door opening and beamed. In short, Mum loves Albus. Like, a lot. Don't ask me why, but something about his freaked out behaviour when he first came to our house seemed to charm her, and so whenever she sees him, she turns into the Mum-From-Heaven.

Case in point: now.

"Albus! How lovely to see you," she began, straightening up and gesturing for him to sit down at the table. "And how have you been?"

"Mrs Malfoy," Al started with a laugh in his voice, "You saw me last week."

"Well, of course," she said, putting a plate of biscuits down in front of him, "But you must have done lots of preparation for your trip with Scorpius, right?"

"Uh, yeah, 'course," Al mumbled. I stole a chocolate biscuit off his plate when it became apparent that Mum wasn't going to give me any.

"Yes, Albus," said a new voice. I groaned internally as it continued, "What _are_ you doing on this trip?"

"Hello, Mr Malfoy," Albus said politely, turning his head and smiling nervously at my father, "How are you?"

"Ecstatic," Dad deadpanned, ambling over and seating himself in front of us. I struggled to hold back an eye roll at his behaviour.

Al and Dad have had a strained relationship ever since they first properly met in the summer after my first year. Basically, Al had been scared shitless and Dad had been all too happy to freak him out in little ways: turning down the lights and making the floorboards creak, pretending that he'd heard voices in the corridors of my dead ancestors moaning about half-bloods in their house.

Yeah. I know, really mature. But to this day Al refuses to go to the loo by himself during the night if he ever stays over, so I guess my father's tactics worked. If I'm honest, they were pretty funny at the time, but now it's just annoying.

"Good, good," Al muttered distractedly whilst picking at another biscuit. I nudged his leg under the table. He scowled.

"So where are you going?" Dad pressed.

"Well, we're heading to Stonehenge first," Al said, "It's a Muggle historical site? It actually has Wizarding roots as well, but anyway. My cousin Rose really likes history, and I'm going into a Muggle liaison apprenticeship at the Ministry at the end of the summer, so –"

"Hang on a sec," I frowned, "What about Weasley – I mean, Rose?"

Al turned his head to look at me. "You know Rose, she's only been in almost all of your classes since first year."

I narrowed my eyes. "Yeah, yeah, but why does it matter that she likes history?"

"Because she wanted to go to Stonehenge… oh."

"_Albus_," I said in a threatening tone.

"But I told you Rose was coming! I told you at the end of year party, when I first suggested the trip and you were all for it then – okay, you were pretty hammered but still –"

His words dissolved as I slapped a hand over his mouth, glaring at him and then glancing to my father, who was watching our discussion with a bemused look on his face.

Slowly, I removed my hand from Al's face, turning to look at Dad.

He raised his eyebrows. "So, am I to understand that my son, the sole heir to the Malfoy family, will be roaming around the country with you and Miss Weasley this summer?"

"Um." I said.

"Well," Al said, "Yes. Oh, and Alice is coming too."

"_Why don't you ever tell me anything?_" I said loudly, and Al rolled his eyes.

"Chill, Scorp. It'll be fun!"

Clearly, he had a warped perception of what I found fun. Reading a book? Yes. Watching a Quidditch match? Sure. Travelling? Okay. But travelling with Al and his _cousin _and her _friend_, both of which I barely knew? It was going to be an awkward trip.


	4. Chapter 3

I'm not a morning person. Least of all when the morning in question begins with my so called best friend jumping on top of me and screaming "ROAD TRIP!"

"Alice," I moaned, attempting to remove her from me, "Would you kindly shut the fuck up?"

Alice **is **a morning person. And a night person. I'm not sure if she's ever tired. However, she is sensible enough to know when to stop being insane, so she rolled off me and marched to the window to pull the blinds open.

It was the morning of the first day of the road trip, and it looked set to be a long one. I had been surprisingly prepared and had packed the night before, so all that was left was to get dressed and attempt to tame my hair. Alice had stayed over the night before, and Albus was coming over very shortly in order to leave time to get to Malfoy Manor. I groaned internally at the thought of the Malfoy name. Me, Alice and Al got on very well together, and the addition of Scorpius would just mess everything up. Battling with my hair in front of the mirror (with Alice laughing at my predicament) I tried reasoning with myself. I'd never had a proper conversation with Scorpius, aside from the time we were Potions partners in second year; for all I knew he could be charming and funny. I just sincerely doubted that.

I raised my concerns to Alice, after hitting her with a hairbrush for laughing at me, who responded in a typically practical fashion.

"He's friends with Albus, he can't be that bad, and besides, you won't even have to talk to him that much." She said, pulling on a T-shirt. "Also, he seems funny, and he's pretty fit."

"WHAT?" I almost dropped my hairbrush on my foot. "Scorpius Malfoy is not attractive!"

"He is! He's got this 'mysterious nerd' thing going on…and his hair –" I raised an eyebrow at her and she tailed off. "He's not unattractive, that's all I'm saying," she concluded.

"Fine, he's 'not unattractive'," I snapped, aghast that the conversation had taken this turn, "But that doesn't mean he's fit."

"Who's fit?" I started. Albus was standing in the doorway, and I was in my underwear.

"Albus!" I shrieked, "Do you know how to knock!"

Finally noticing my state of undress, Albus turned a shade of maroon and dived out the room. We were cousins, so had seen more of each other than we would care to admit, but the more worrying part was that he would have heard some of our conversation about Scorpius. I really wouldn't want him getting the wrong idea.

* * *

Twenty minutes and two cups of tea later, the three of us stood outside a battered red mini.

"Al –"

"I know what you're going to say."

"And?"

"I've put an undetectable extension charm on the boot," he replied giving me his trademark "Merlin, it's so obvious" look.

"Making use of that O in Charms I see," my dad remarked, turning up behind us with mine and Alice's suitcases in his arms. Albus smirked (damn him and his insufferable intelligence) and I cast a forlorn look back at our house.

"We should probably get going soon." I said, surprisingly excited at the idea. I would certainly miss my house, but I was going to go on a road trip with my two best friends (and, unfortunately a random acquaintance) and seeing Al's car made it all the more real.

My mum, Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry came out of the house at that moment, as well as all my various cousins (except for Lily, who sadly was on her own holiday). I was sent off with a chorus of "Owl us!", various group hugs (with Alice included since she was practically part of our family anyway) and a stern reminder from my parents to be sensible. At that point I reminded them what they were doing at my age and they promptly shut up.

Alice and I clambered into the back, Albus into the driver's seat, and we all stuck our heads out the window and waved (even Al, which resulted in a near-crash into our neighbour's wall and several horrified shouts from our parents.) As the car turned the corner, elation bubbled in me, and I couldn't help grinning like a maniac. This was going to be amazing!

* * *

A few hours later, I was most definitely not in the same mood. Unsurprisingly, the back seats of a mini are incredibly uncomfortable, and after a few hours slogging through traffic to Wiltshire I was incredibly bored and had a sore arse. To make matters worse, Malfoy Manor seemed to be in the most isolated and hard to find place in the whole of Britain. After unnecessarily long periods of time spent arguing over the map, we turned a corner, and there it was.

To call Malfoy Manor posh is like saying Voldemort was a bit of a meanie. Seriously, the place oozes aristocracy; I could practically smell caviar and enforced table manners from the end of the driveway. And to top it all, it was damn creepy. Looking at the dark exterior and drawn curtains, I could see why the place scared the shit out of Albus the first time he came.

"This," Alice remarked as we drove ever closer, "Is the most pretentious place on Earth."

I muttered something in agreement, although as we pulled up beside the house it was clear that the Malfoy's had tried to liven the place up a little. The front door was painted cream, and there were small olive trees next to it. Looking at the windows surrounding the door, I could see warm light exuding from the rooms, and I caught sight of a cat sitting on a windowsill. Nonetheless, it still resembled something from a horror film, and in no way lessened my anxiety about meeting Scorpius. Albus hopped out of the car and rang the doorbell, while I contemplated why Scorpius Malfoy of all people made me nervous and uncomfortable.

I was still no closer to an answer when the boy himself opened the door, carrying a huge case that looked like it had been passed down over generations. His mother kissed him (and Albus) goodbye, prompting blushes from the both of them, and Scorpius clambered into the car, looking slightly uncomfortable and unsure of himself.

"Hey Alice, Rose," he mumbled as Albus started the car engine.

Oh Merlin, this was going to be a long trip.

* * *

Surprisingly, the mood lightened quickly as we chugged through the countryside. Although Scorpius mostly talked to Albus, and Alice to me, there wasn't much awkwardness, and Scorpius didn't seem too annoying. Alice and I were halfway through a conversation when she interrupted herself.

"Oh, shit!" I was worried, being a teacher's daughter, Alice rarely swore at all. "I forgot the batteries for the torches!"

I breathed a sigh of relief. Alice took her position as "mother of the group" very seriously, often with hyperbolic results.

"Relax," Albus replied, "We can get them at the next petrol station."

Luckily, said petrol station appeared quickly and Alice and Albus jumped out, leaving Scorpius and I to deal with the petrol, much to my horror. Having only driven the family car, I had rarely had to fill it up, and now it appeared I would have to teach Scorpius as well.

"So this just goes in here?"

I giggled. Scorpius was holding the pump upside-down and looking completely bemused.

"Not like that, you idiot!" I directed his hands into the right position, and he began to fill the mini up, looking extremely proud of himself.

"You're a dork," I teased.

"You're dork-ier."

"That's not an actual word."

"That's rich coming from a girl who made up her own language in first year."

"What – How did you even know that?" I shrieked, vividly remembering my first year at Hogwarts when I was lacking in the friend department, to put it politely.

"Your cousin is a gossip, dork face." His expression turned to one of panic. "Merlin! How do you turn it off! It's going to overflow!"

I chuckled at his surprisingly endearing terror.

"Relax, dork face," he grinned a little at our new nickname for each other. "It turns itself off."

"Wha–? How?" He looked suitably confused until the petrol shut itself off, and a few moments later Albus and Alice showed up laden with shopping bags (apparently, a trip to a real life Muggle supermarket was too much for Albus to resist.)

"You managed to fill up?" Alice asked, loading the huge boot, much to the astonishment of the few Muggles that were there.

"Yep," I said, and Scorpius elbowed me, muttering "dork face", causing me to burst into hysterics.

Alice looked at me in confusion as we sat down once more in the car, my spirits considerably lifted. It appeared Scorpius Malfoy was alright after all.


	5. Chapter 4

Something you should know about Rose Weasley is that she is extremely smart. I mean, I took Muggle Studies from fifth through to seventh year _and _I have Al Potter, Muggle Enthusiast Extraordinaire as my best mate! But I didn't know that you have to fill up cars with this stuff called 'petrol', or that there's a weird Muggle contraption that magically shuts it off without magic.

The girl's a genius.

That said, she seems to underestimate my memory skills, because her made up language in first year is one of the funniest things I remember about her.

But anyway, the trip was off to a fairly good start. We'd only been in the car for about an hour but we were all warming up to each other, mainly because of Al's good people skills.

"Where are we going first, Al?" Alice asked after a moment of silence.

"Stonehenge," Al replied as we drove along the motorway, "Shouldn't be too long now."

The next half hour was filled with Rose's excited babbling for our arrival, and I quickly found myself becoming more and more interested in the site.

"But how do you know all this?" I asked, twisting around in my seat just in time to see Rose blush.

It was a very pretty blush, I noticed.

"I, um, read a lot," she said, "About history."

"Cool," I said honestly, and I shot her a grin. Why was she so nervous?

* * *

Within twenty minutes, it seemed that Al was sorely mistaken when he said that it wouldn't take long for us to get there. I sighed in my seat and shuffled around a bit – this drive was quickly becoming boring.

"Okay!" shouted Rose suddenly. I nearly jumped out of the seat and Al swore.

"Yes, Rose?" He said testily.

"Let's play a game."

"What game?" Alice asked, yawning.

"Um…two truths, one lie?"

I pretended to know what she was talking about for the next five minutes, until Rose finally looked me in the eye.

"You have no clue what I'm talking about, do you?"

"Nope," I mumbled, feeling my cheeks flushing pink.

She quickly explained the concept of the game – you make up three statements and two of them are real and one of them is a lie, then the others have to guess which the lie is.

"Okay, I think I've got it," I said, "You go first."

"Right," Rose said, "Statement number one: my favourite colour is blue."

Al opened his mouth to say something, but she shushed him quickly, "You're not allowed to guess, I've known you since birth."

"You've known Alice since birth," Al pointed out, and Rose made a face and announced that Alice couldn't guess either.

"My first crush was Oliver Wood."

I raised an eyebrow but remained silent. The car moved forwards two inches before she next spoke, "I really love cherries."

I frowned. How was I supposed to know which one was false?

"Okay…" I began, "I think it's fair enough for blue to be your favourite colour. You have a lot of blue things, I think, and you look good in blue."

For some reason, Rose turned a bright shade of fuchsia at this, and I wondered what I'd said to make her embarrassed.

"I'm pretty sure Oliver Wood is in the top ten attractive Quidditch players, so fair enough…but why would you hate cherries?"

I studied her for a moment. She hadn't blushed at anything apart from the colour thing, so that must be the lie.

"Your favourite colour isn't blue," I said finally, and she grinned in triumph.

"Wrong!" She sang, "It is, in fact."

"Rose hates cherries," Al informed me, "Ever since we found the cherry tree at her neighbour's and she got caught stealing."

"So your first crush _was_ Oliver Wood?" I asked.

"Yep." She replied, shrugging.

"Dork face."

She made a fake affronted face while I smirked.

* * *

To my horror, it was only fifteen minutes later when both Rose and Alice had learnt many new and humiliating things about me, all thanks to my so-called best mate. Al had found it more hilarious and less embarrassing when he took it upon himself to inform the whole bloody universe about my little emo phase in fourth year.

"Yep, it was terrible," Al laughed, "He pierced his ears – see? Still got the piercings –" He pointed over at the side of my head, "And he wore eyeliner for a good four months."

"Merlin," Alice said, snorting, "How do I not remember seeing you like that in lessons?"

I shrugged, feeling my face warm, "I dunno. I stopped when the teachers told me off for tearing my school robes," I said, and Al rolled his eyes.

"He wanted to dye his hair black," he said, "That's where I drew the line, because I knew his dad would have a heart attack."

At this, Rose burst into hysterical giggles which set off Alice and Al, while I sat in my seat with my face burning.

"Okay, okay," I said as the laughter in the car began to die down, "That's enough about me."

"Nuh-uh," Rose giggled, shaking her head. I could see her face turning steadily redder in the side mirror of the car, "I want to hear more about your eyeliner."

"I can't believe you almost dyed your hair black," Alice said, "I would kill to see that."

I let out a small smile; it was pretty hilarious, now that I thought about it. Neither of them seemed too weirded out either, so that was something.

"Let's play I Spy," Albus said a moment later, clearly taking pity on me, "Alice, you start."

"Okay…I spy with my little eye, something beginning with 'S'."

"Scorpius," Rose said, and I grinned at her whilst Alice rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Sky?" Al guessed.

"Sign?" I said as we passed another one to Stonehenge. The traffic was clearing now and we started to speed down the road, passing some people who were selling strawberries on the roadside.

"Strawberries!" yelled Al, reading my mind.

"Nope."

We made another fifteen guesses or so until finally, Rose groaned. "I give up," she said, "Just tell us."

"You guys all suck at this game," Alice announced, "It's Stonehenge, of course!"

We erupted into complaints – "But you can't even see it yet, Alice!" – but to no avail.

"You lose," Alice beamed, "And for that, you get to buy my ice cream when we get there."

* * *

"Road?"

"R…Rear-view mirror?"

"Rose?"

"You already asked that," Al groaned, "And none of you are right."

We were now stuck in the queue to enter the car park for Stonehenge, and we were on our fifth round of the game. Rose had practically squealed in excitement when we'd passed the actual site, and we were all getting pretty fed up now.

"Radio?" I suggested, and Al grinned widely.

"Finally!" He said, "And just in time, too."

We drove into the first parking spot we saw and scrambled out of the car, joints clicking and groaning about the blaring sun. Still, I was glad to be in the fresh air and standing up.

"Let's go!" said Rose happily, and we followed her through to the visitor's entrance.

* * *

Thanks for reading and please please leave reviews; they're very helpful. Rose and Scorpius' dorky adventures in Stonehenge will be posted soon.


	6. Chapter 5

I have a confession – I'm a huge history nerd. A little ironic, I realise, since I had spent my entire school life looking down on Scorpius for committing the same crime that I myself had committed; being overly enthusiastic about stuff. I'm sure this became apparent to Scorpius, as he made the deadly mistake of asking me about Stonehenge.

"So what exactly were these stones used for?"

"Well, the exact use is debateable…" and so began the Great Stonehenge Explanation, which started when we entered the site and continued for almost our entire circuit of the rocks. I was so caught up in my lecture that' it took me a while to realise Scorpius was chuckling to himself.

"Merlin, Al wasn't wrong about you liking History."

I promptly shut up, feeling incredibly embarrassed and somewhat offended. Just at that moment, Al and Alice caught up with us.

"She boring your head off?" Alice asked, an ice cream already in hand (it looked like Albus had given in and bought her one).

"No, though I am slightly worried how long she must have spent reading up on this place." He grinned, and I relaxed a little.

Albus laughed.

"You should have seen her! She bought all these books and…" I hit him over the head with my travel brochure.

After another twenty minutes of sightseeing, or rather Albus gawking at Muggles, Alice exclaiming "It's just some rocks, for fuck's sake" and me dragging Scorpius around, we all decided it was time for lunch. I unfolded our bedraggled picnic blanket, Alice handed out various sandwiches and snacks her mother had made, and we all settled down to eat.

"Not exactly like your posh lunches at Malfoy Manor, Scorp," Albus noted a little later, as we stared out at the car park and the grid-locked motorway beyond.

"This is way more fun, trust me," he replied, already on his third smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel.

"What, even with Rose the Historian dragging you around?"

"It's interesting!" he protested, and I couldn't help feel a little proud. "I didn't know half this stuff about Muggles, and it's incredible to think they managed to do all of this without magic."

"Thanks Scorpius," I said, looking pointedly at the others. "It's good to know _someone _appreciates my knowledge."

Alice rolled her eyes. "You may have 'the knowledge', but I have the Butterbeer."

* * *

Several glasses of aforementioned Butterbeer later, we all clambered back into the car, this time Alice driving and myself calling shot-gun, which had the disadvantage of having to navigate, but the advantage of being in control of the music system.

"I'm not playing the Bent Winged Snitches!"

"Oh come on! We've had to listen to you and Alice's drivel for the past half an hour!" Albus exclaimed, trying to reach the CD player. Scorpius smirked, staring out of the window in refusal to join in the argument.

"Hey!" Alice protested, "I caught you singing along…wait, shit, where am I going?"

I glanced at the map. "Keep going straight on and follow the signs to Bournemouth."

"Anyway," Alice continued, "You can't sing along to your crappy music."

Albus glared at her. "Scorpius, what do you want to listen to?"

"I really don't mind," he replied noncommittally.

Suddenly I had an idea, and promptly began digging through our pile of CDs.

"I almost forgot, mum made me a CD a while back of Muggle music she used to listen to…aha, here it is!" I slotted it in.

As soon as the first few notes began, Albus' eyes lit up.

"I love this song!"

"I know this song!" Alice began bobbing her head in time.

"What is this song?" Scorpius looked completely bewildered.

"_When I wake up…"_

We sang along, in our best Scottish accents, Scorpius cracking up laughing in his confusion.

"_When I go out…."_

Scorpius began to get the gist of the song, and started humming along. He didn't have a bad voice, I noted.

"_And I would walk five hundred miles and I would walk five hundred more, just to be the man who walked a thousand miles to fall down at your door!"_

We opened the windows and half sang, half shouted to the motorway.

"_Doo-doo doo doo!" _Alice and I shouted.

"_Doo-doo doo doo!" _Albus (and partially Scorpius) responded.

"_Doo doo dumumdumdumlala" _A car passed us, with its windows open, the Muggles grinning as they recognised the song. Both cars slowed down in the traffic.

"_Doo-doo doo doo!" _ We all shouted.

"_Doo-doo doo doo!" _the inhabitants of the other car responded (they looked our age and half of them seemed incredibly drunk.)

"_Doo doo dumumdumdumlala," _we both yelled at each other, before they sped off.

A few minutes later after the song finished, Alice and I screamed "ROAD TRIP!" and we all collapsed into a fit of giggles.

"That," Scorpius gasped, "Was hilarious, and I'm going to have that song stuck in my head for the next ten years."

I grinned. "We're actually doing this."

Albus stuck his head out of the window. "We're FREE!" he yelled.

"No more school!" Alice exclaimed.

"No more exams!"

"No more sitting through Professor Binns' lessons!"

We continued with our list, growing euphoric as we sped along the road. As the excitement died down, realisation dawned on me.

"Fuck" I said "We have to get jobs." Everyone groaned.

Albus recoiled in horror. "Ughh, don't mention the J word!"

"We should have a deal," Scorpius said, "No mention of jobs, responsibilities, any of that crap for the whole of this trip."

"Yeah," Alice agreed, "we should make the most of trip, _Carpe Diem _and all that shit."

We all shook on it – or at least Alice tried to, before we all yelled at her to keep her hands on the wheel.

* * *

The roads didn't become any less busy as we sped down to the coast, but miraculously the traffic kept moving. Mum's music was a huge hit, with even Scorpius remarking that Muggle music wasn't half bad (though he wasn't a fan of the Spice Girls.)

"It's like they just gave up and put in nonsense words!"

"It's fun," Alice argued.

"And if I hypothetically wanted to be someone's lover, I wouldn't get with their friends; they'd probably hate me!"

Albus sighed "They don't mean 'get off with', Scorpius, you pervert."

"Oh."

I giggled to myself. Scorpius' sheltered life was beginning to show.

Alice hit the button on the CD player, and _If you wanna be my lover_ started playing again.

"NO!" Scorpius yelled.

All three of us sang loudly and obnoxiously to piss him off, and it worked.

"If I give you food, would you turn that crap off?"

"Sounds like a deal," Alice said, as she had already complained three times of being hungry, starving and famished, in that order. I paused the CD, and reached back to grab whatever snacks Scorpius had, feeling secretly hungry myself.

"Aha, here's the catch, Rose – you can't look at what I'm giving you."

"What, is this some kind of Bertie Botts challenge?"

"Something like that," he replied conspiratorially.

Albus, who was sitting behind me, put his hands over my eyes and Alice burst out laughing, presumably at the sight of whatever Scorpius was about to feed me.

"It's not a spider, is it?" I said, slightly worried.

Scorpius didn't reply, and dropped something round into my mouth. I bit into it, and my mouth was filled with a recognisable and absolutely disgusting taste.

"Fuck! It's a cherry!" I spat it out on to Scorpius' hand (served him right), pulled Albus' hand off my eyes and slapped Scorpius round the face.

"You know," he said, wiping cherry off his hands and looking disgusted, "For someone so eloquent you really are violent."

"Well, for someone so innocent and sheltered, you are really cruel." I retorted.

Alice smirked. "Aww, look at you two, bickering like an old married couple."

Scorpius banged his head on the seat in front of him in exasperation. "Please don't say this is going to be an ongoing joke."

"Well now that you've said that…"

Scorpius and I groaned.

"Wait!" I shouted, "That's the sign for Bournemouth!"

We all cheered, and I put on _five hundred miles _one more time, and this time Scorpius sang along as well, doing an absolutely awful Scottish accent. I felt a rush of affection; Scorpius was a nerd, but a nerd I didn't mind having around at all.

* * *

Thanks for reading guys! Hope you liked the chapter and we should be able to post the next chapter some time next week. I should post my chapters (the odd numered ones) with a little more frequency than previously as I actually have a) time and b) wifi. Reviews are so so helpful so please keep posting them :)


	7. Chapter 6

Although we were all pretty tired by this point, arriving in Bournemouth had a definite energy boosting quality for us. We parked on a little side street (with Alice muttering something about getting a parking ticket for sure), and walked around the town, looking for a place to stay.

Rose in particular seemed a bit annoyed with Albus for his lack of planning – "I thought you knew where we were staying!" – but I was fine with it. This kind of spontaneous adventure was something I was completely new to, and honestly I enjoyed it; the refreshing feeling of having absolutely no plan of action.

My father, I'm sure, would have other things to say about it.

Eventually, after being told a hurried "Sorry, we're full" from numerous places, we found a little bed and breakfast just off the main road, not far from the beach. It wasn't anything special, but we decided that it would do, considering the fact that we were only there for a night.

Albus drove the car to the bed and breakfast and we ditched our stuff in the room we had claimed, before congregating in Rose and Alice's room, which already seemed a lot more orderly than mine and Al's. I sat on the edge of Rose's bed while she lay sideways on it, looking up at the ceiling.

"Why don't we go to the pier?" Albus suggested. He was reading one of his several travel books that had accompanied him on the trip. From where I was sitting, I could see a picture of an artificially blue sea and the word 'Bournemouth' spelt in capital orange letters on the cover.

"What's at the pier?" Alice asked, cross legged on the carpet.

"Food," said Al, and immediately the four of us agreed that this was the place to go. We gathered our essentials and trooped out the door, with Al insisting that we should walk as the pier "wasn't far".

* * *

Not true. In fact, it took us forty minutes just to reach one of the several smaller piers, and at that point we were all exhausted, so we decided not to go to the main pier.

"What's the point?" asked Rose, scowling at Al, "It's probably the same anyway."

Al made a face at me behind Rose's back and I stifled a laugh.

"Sor_ry_," he replied acerbically, drawing out the word, "We'll find Rosie-Posie a place to eat then, yeah?"

At this, she bloomed a bright red colour, and Alice and I burst out laughing. "No one's called her that since before Hogwarts!" She giggled, while Rose hit Albus hard around the head, glaring.

"Stop it," she groaned, "I've always hated that nickname."

"I have payback for my emo phase now," I said gleefully, and her lips twitched at the mention of it.

"Come on, you lot," she said, a little smile gracing her features, "Let's go eat."

* * *

We landed up in a pub just by the beach, ordering four plates of fish and chips as soon as we sat down.

"Apparently Bournemouth is well known for fish and chips," said Al, travel book in front of his face. "It says here: 'The fresh fish near the Bournemouth Pier is not to be missed! Visit local pubs for the best atmosphere and beer batter."

"You sound like an advert," Rose laughed, and I rolled my eyes at Al as he continued.

"'And don't miss the Bournemouth Balloon, for a stunning view of the whole town from high up! For even more interesting sites, see page seventy two.'"

"What's the Bournemouth Balloon?" I wondered aloud, but we were interrupted by the arrival of the food.

Alice and Rose groaned in unison at the sight of hot food being placed in front of them. A bright flash told them that Albus was taking pictures of their faces (supposedly as blackmail material), and they shut their mouths promptly.

"Um, like a hot air balloon?" Al said. I frowned.

"…Should I know what that is?"

He shrugged. "Kind of like a giant balloon with a basket attached that you stand in, I suppose."

I looked from Rose, to Alice, to Al. "You want me to go in a giant balloon? In mid-air?"

Alice laughed. "Weren't you Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain?"

I coloured slightly. "Well, yeah."

Rose spoke next, "Aren't you a Seeker?"

"Yes."

"Don't Seekers have to fly very high?"

I furrowed my brows and picked up a chip. "Yes, but that's beside the point! There's no way in hell I'm going in a _balloon_ for Merlin's sake!"

"Ah, come on Scorp, don't be a spoilsport," said Albus, chuckling at my outrage.

"Where are the safety charms, huh?" I demanded, and I crossed my arms for added effect.

"Drama queen," said Alice, rolling her eyes.

"Dork face," said Rose, and I narrowed my eyes at her, sticking my tongue out.

She winked back – I nearly fell off my chair.

"I guess we'll just ditch you then," she continued, "You can look after all of our bags while we go look at the stunning view…"

I conceded. "Alright, _fine_. But only if we check about the safety precautions first."

Albus patted me on the shoulder patronisingly. "And this is why you aren't a Gryffindor!"

I hit him over the head with the guide book.

* * *

We took a bus to the Bournemouth Balloon, because Alice absolutely refused to walk, considering the fact that Albus clearly underestimated the journey last time and we were stuffed.

When we finally arrived at the ticket booth, it was getting dark. The sun was just hovering on the horizon and we figured it would be down within the next hour or so. We quickly bought our tickets, snatching the last four on the next balloon ride, and waited for our turn, walking over to the group of people who were also waiting nearby.

"So," I said to the woman at the front, who was keeping us all in a queue, "How many people go up at a time?"

"About twenty to twenty eight," she answered, chewing on her gum noisily, "Changes depending on kids, though – if they're really small, we'll let them on."

"Ah," I said, paling. This did not seem safe to me at all: twenty eight people was a lot for a basket to handle. "And how big is the basket?"

"Dunno," said the woman. "Twenty metres, maybe? It goes about one hundred and fifty metres in the air though, if that helps."

I nodded absentmindedly, running a hand through my hair.

This balloon was a death trap – that much was certain.

I looked back at the others. Albus seemed to be in deep conversation with Alice, no doubt about our oncoming deaths, but Rose was daydreaming, sitting on the grass and twirling a piece of long red hair around her finger as we waited.

I shuffled over and sat down next to her, folding my legs and hugging my knees to my chest.

"So, about this balloon thing…" I began, trailing off when she glanced over at me, shooting me a pretty smile.

"Scorpius, if you really don't want to do it, you don't have to. We were just teasing, you know." She spoke in a sympathetic tone, and I immediately felt embarrassed – she was going to think I was a complete coward.

I nodded, and anxiously ruffled my hair again. "I know, I know. I'd like to, it's just…"

"Seems like a bit of a risk, yeah?"

I laughed nervously, "Yeah. I'm not really a risk taker."

"It's worth it though," she murmured. "You get this awesome rush, see, and a sort of tingling feeling and you feel like you're, I dunno, invincible."

I raised my eyebrows. "Sounds like you're an adrenaline junkie, Miss Weasley."

"Maybe so, Mr Malfoy," she replied playfully, and I could tell she was going to say something else, but our attention was diverted – the balloon had landed.

It was actually fairly large up close, and the basket that had been described to me was actually more of a wheel shape, with several ropes attached on the edge, leading up to the huge white balloon.

The people aboard it quickly departed, and I studied their faces carefully as they left. None of them looked like they were dead or dying or vomiting, so that was something.

When I turned back to Rose, she was gasping. "Ooh, it's so pretty!" she exclaimed, and I twisted around to look at the balloon. She was right – the balloon had been lit from the inside so that it seemed to glow in the now setting sun, and I was just admiring it when we were all pushed forwards.

"Coming, Scorpius?" Al asked, as he and Alice joined us. We walked towards the steps leading to the balloon, and as we drew ever closer, my lips twitched against my better judgement.

"Yeah," I said, catching Rose's eye and grinning. She beamed back. "I reckon I can take the risk."

* * *

Albus' travel book had been right. The view from the balloon _was_ stunning, and Rose wasn't wrong either. It did give me a sort of rush, being in it – it was like flying on my newest Nimbus only not really, because I was completely and utterly not in control.

Surprisingly, I loved it.

The best part of it all was that it was actually quite safe – Alice had found a brochure when we were buying tickets and in the 'Frequently Asked Questions' section, I had been reassured to discover that the balloon was tethered to the ground by a steel cable that could supposedly withstand more than forty eight tons.

And so instead of worrying about falling to the ground, I turned to look at our surroundings. It was beautiful; the sparkling from the windows of the houses, the little specks on the ground that were people, the glimmer of sunlight that stayed on the sea as the sun itself disappeared from view. I was so wrapped up in it that I jumped when Rose spoke right next to me.

"Amazing, isn't it?" she said, and laughed slightly at my stunned expression. "Sorry, didn't mean to frighten you."

I shook my head, smiling. "It's bloody fantastic. Feels like Quidditch, almost."

"Without the stress," she added, and I agreed – there was no Snitch for me to look for here.

We stood side by side, and Albus and Alice joined us soon after as we watched the sun vanish and the darkness grow. Although the entire balloon ride was only about twenty minutes, it seemed much longer – as if I'd spent a year or two looking at the view.

As we slowly sunk back down to the earth and landed without a hitch, I thanked Rose for convincing me to go on the balloon.

"Rubbish," she said, waving a hand dismissively but smiling all the same, "It was all you, really."

I couldn't help but disagree, but I didn't mention it, and instead chose to give her a one armed hug. Her elbow jutted into my side and my hand became tangled in her hair, and she was warm despite the breeziness of the night. The hug was slightly (okay, very) awkward and I didn't quite know what I was doing, but she seemed to be alright with it, because she patted my upper arm clumsily before we separated. And as we did, I had the strangest feeling that if she'd tried to hug me properly, I wouldn't have minded at all.

* * *

**A/N: Hey guys! Dee here (responsible for Scorpius' pov chapters) :) Hope you're enjoying the fic - chapter seven is in the works! Please leave us reviews if you can - anything's great, even if it's a "scorpius is a dork face" or whatever.**


	8. Chapter 7

"Finally," Alice said, as I stumbled out of bed. "I've been up for hours."

"What's the time?"

"Five to ten."

"And you've been up for _hours_?" I said sceptically, making my way to the bathroom.

"Yep, since seven thirty."

"Mate, there's something wrong with you." Alice's only reply was to grin and return to reading her book.

After showering and dressing, the two of us discussed whether the boys would be up, or whether we'd have to wake them. We'd hardly had a wild first night out, unless 'wild' consisted of sitting in a hotel room and chatting for hours. Which was a good thing, since I would have to be driving the next leg of our trip, and I really didn't want to do it hungover.

Just as Alice was about to force me to go on a mission to the boys' room, there was a knock on the door and the two of them stepped in, Scorpius still half asleep.

"Sorry," Albus said, noticing we were ready, "I had to drag this one out of bed."

Scorpius nodded sheepishly and ruffled his hair. My mouth went dry. Oh, Merlin. Sometimes Scorpius really tested the boundaries of his 'not-unattractive' classification, what with his endless hair ruffling and his damn mesmerising eyes… It occurred to me that a conversation had been going on during my mental absence.

"What do you think, Rose?" Albus said.

"Well…umm…" I spluttered, "Sorry, what were we talking about?"

Alice rolled her eyes.

"We were wondering where we should go today."

"Well, I saw a bunch of flyers near reception; we could check them out while we have breakfast and see what there is to do."

The others agreed to my suggestion, and we hurried down to breakfast. The hotel seemed to have spent all their money on brochures rather than decent food, since there was a whole stand dedicated to information about the town, and a few measly eggs and some toast for breakfast. The four of us glanced at the stand, calling out suggestions as we saw them, which soon turned into an argument between Alice and Albus.

"Jetski safaris?" Alice suggested.

"You are _not_ putting me on a jetski." Albus said, disgusted, and pulled out another leaflet. "Sherborne castle?"

"One historical site was enough, thanks."

"It's got a 'splendid collection of decorative arts'."

She gave him a look.

"Fine," Albus said, "The Mayflower theatre?"

"No," Alice groaned, "Cycling tours?"

"No!"

"Umm, guys?" Scorpius said, interrupting the argument. "It's raining."

"Oh, crap," I said, glancing out of the window and the torrential downpour which was occurring, "Okay, we'll need to find stuff that's inside," I started looking again, and one particular flyer caught my eye. Alice saw it as well.

"Laser quest!" she yelled.

"Laser! Fucking! Quest!" I replied, and we started jumping up and down in excitement.

Albus glanced at Scorpius despairingly. "You've got to be kidding me."

* * *

A short while later, the four of us were standing in the Laser Quest building, suited, armed and ready to go. I had managed to convert Albus to the cause, and after explaining it to Scorpius he seemed pretty excited. The only thing left was to pick teams.

"Boys against girls?" Scorpius suggested.

"Nah, unfair," Alice said, "We'd slaughter you."

"Okay then," Albus said, "We'll pick teams. Since I organised this trip _and _you've forced me to come here, I'm picking first."

We grumbled, but agreed.

"Alice," Albus said, surprising me slightly. "She's the best Quidditch player here by far-"

"Rude," Scorpius said.

"And I'm guessing by her response to the brochure that she is pretty good at Laser Tag."

"Damn right I am!" Alice said, swinging her arm around Albus' shoulders.

"Don't be fooled by her cockiness, Scorpius," I said, "The only time she's done it was with me, and she died in about one minute."

She stuck her tongue out.

"Team names?" Scorpius said.

"Hmm…" Albus looked at Alice, "How about 'The League of People with Unimaginative Names'?"

"Very pithy," I said dryly, as Alice giggled.

"Team Dork Face," Scorpius said proudly.

"I thought you didn't like the nickname?" I teased.

"It's a _team name_, it's different," he protested, as the four of us waited to enter the arena, "And besides, I've grown quite fond of it."

* * *

"Scorpius!" I yelled, "Mind your bloody head!"

Ten minutes in, and Team Dork Face was in trouble. We'd been cornered by Alice, who was living up to her boasts, and were dodging laser beams left, right and centre. He ducked down into the alcove where I was crouching.

"I'm going to distract her," he whispered, "You make a run for it,"

"Is now really the best time for heroics, Scorpius?" I said.

"It's not heroics! We need to get to Albus and the flag that he's guarding sometime this week, and you're by far the best person to do that. Besides," he said, "I'm not going down without a fight!"

"This better work," I muttered.

"It will," he said cockily, giving a lopsided grin that made my heart rate go up even more than it already was. "Now, RUN!" he shouted, barrelling his way down the alleyways of the dark arena towards Alice.

I didn't need to be told twice. I set off, sprinting across the arena and sneaking around corners. I could see the glow of the other team's flag by now, and Albus standing guard. Barely breathing, I crept closer, testing how far I could go before he spotted me. Practically on tip toe, I reached a spot close enough that I could shoot him. I exhaled quietly, aimed the gun at his chest-target, put my finger on the trigger…

Just at that moment a whole herd of small children stampeded past us, shooting wildly and yelling. They spotted me and began to run towards me. One managed to hit my shoulder target.

"Shit," I muttered, as the one of the lights on my jacket flickered out. One life down, two to go. I had no choice but to run.

I careered round corners at break-neck speed as the kids followed after me. Fear gripped my chest; I really didn't want to die at the hands of twenty ten year olds. Turning another corner, I spotted Albus, who was in the same predicament, except he only had one life left. I got close enough to him, then grabbed him and pulled him into an alcove.

"Merlin's balls," he gasped in relief, "I thought you were-"

"-One of the small children who've invaded this place?"

"Yeah."

We both caught our breaths for a second.

"Aren't you going to shoot me?" Albus asked.

"Well, the idea did cross my mind, but if I did I'm sure you would get payback by embarrassing me to death, or something."

He grinned. "How considerate."

"I haven't let you know about the part where I use you as a human shield yet," I said, chuckling, and as if on cue, a smaller group of children spotted us and began to shoot.

"Run!" Albus yelled, and we sprinted out, trying our hardest to escape the kids, but they literally appeared from every direction. Eventually I spotted a platform that was short enough for us to jump onto, but high enough for the children not to. I jumped up and Albus followed, a little less gracefully. I spotted something we could hide behind and shuffled towards it, all the while looking at the children who swarmed below us. Evidently, I was so focused that I didn't notice where I was sitting when Albus and I finally crouched down.

"Rose!"

I sprung up, after the realisation dawned on me that I had sat on a person rather than the floor. I turned around and Scorpius and Alice were sitting with their backs to the plastic shield, trying their best not to giggle.

"Sorry!" I whispered to Alice and sat down again.

"Don't apologise to me, it was Scorpius who got your arse in his face," she replied, and I'm sure I turned beetroot in horror at that moment. Scorpius looked equally mortified, though if it was due to Alice's comment or the actual incident I have no idea.

"Okay," Albus said over the noise of yelling and disco music, "Those kids are pissing me off."

"Glad I'm not the only one," Scorpius replied.

"I say it's time to show them who's boss," Alice replied, grinning.

I smiled back mischievously, "I think we should team up and try and eliminate every single one."

"That's kind of evil," Scorpius said.

"Evil? Come on-"

"Hey, that doesn't mean it's not kind of awesome," he replied.

"Yes!" Albus said, "Let's do this!"

The four of us lay down on each side of the raised platform, and began to try and hit the kids like we were snipers. I noticed that Scorpius had started to make little "pew pew" sounds every time he pulled the trigger. However, this tactic barely lasted more than thirty seconds, as the children began to notice us and shoot back. Adrenaline kicked in, and we all burst into action, jumping off the sides and running round corners, going into full battle mode. Once I was in a safe position, I looked back and spotted Scorpius running a fair way behind me. He stopped and leaned against a wall to catch his breath, oblivious to the fact that a child was creeping up behind him, his laser gun aimed and ready to fire. Hardly thinking, I dashed towards Scorpius, pulled him out of the way, and shot the child on his shoulder target.

"Run!" I yelled, dodging laser beams as the kid began to shoot at us, giggling like a maniac. Scorpius was still too far behind. As a last resort, I grabbed his hand and dragged him, my feet pounding the ground as we neared the other end of the arena.

At last we stopped and caught our breaths (I'm proud to say that Scorpius was considerably more out of shape than I was).

"Thanks," Scorpius gasped.

"No problem, but next time, try and be more aware of your surroundings."

"Alright, bossy boots." he chuckled.

It was at that moment that I realised we were still holding hands. I dropped his, feeling the heat rush into my cheeks once more.

"Sorry," I burst out, "You were…umm…being slow."

He rubbed the back of his neck.

"Yeah, well I'm hardly as fit as you are."

I raised an eyebrow, "And which meaning of 'fit' would that be, Mr Malfoy?"

We both burst out laughing, awkwardness dissipating. Though part of me was still curious as to what his answer to my question would have been.

"Right," he said, neglecting to answer my question, "We need a plan of action."

"Okay, I suggest we go back to back in that central alleyway bit over there," I said, pointing, "The children are bound to run through that way, and we'll shoot from both directions. Plus, the alleyway's narrow enough to prevent anyone passing us on the sides."

Scorpius agreed to the plan, and we situated ourselves in the alley, back to back. I could feel the heat of him enveloping me, but I focused on my gun and the area ahead. Soon, we heard the sounds of stampeding feet. I aimed my gun, braced myself and…

"Alice's group, your time is up," a tinny voice from the loudspeakers blared out. "Please go to the doors on the far end of the arena."

Scorpius and I groaned.

"But we were just about to defeat an army of ten year olds!" He yelled back.

"Come on, Scorp," I said, "Know when you're beaten."

I put an arm around his shoulders (which was easier said than done since he was about half a foot taller than me) and we began to trudge to the exit.

* * *

After de-suiting and chatting to the mothers of the birthday group (who gave us cake) we all clambered into the car, still hysterically going over the events in the arena.

"I can't believe Albus managed to run into that pillar!"

"What can I say, I'm stupid."

I pulled out of the car park, and we decided to get going to Teddy and Victoire's house, which is in Exeter. The adrenaline died down and we were relatively silent. The countryside began to appear around us as we left Bournemouth, and I have to admit it looked incredibly pretty in the late afternoon sun. The sea glimmered out of the left hand window, and the road ahead of us was surrounded by rolling fields. Almost two hours passed, which were mostly occupied with games of I Spy and Albus boring us with facts about the Muggle world. Everyone had fallen half asleep, and I was struggling to stay focused on the road, when the car began to make strange noises. I glanced at the dashboard, and noticed the petrol light was flashing.

"Guys?"

"What?" Alice replied.

"We may have a small problem…"


	9. Chapter 8

There was a dangerous flashing light on the dashboard when I peered round Rose's seat to look. I frowned and rubbed my eyes, wondering what it meant.

"Fucking hell," Albus groaned from my left, looking in the same direction.

Alice turned to Rose. "I thought you filled it up!"

"I did, I swear! We _both _did, Scorpius and I –"

"Sorry, would someone tell me what exactly is going on?" I interjected, confused.

Alice sighed. "Rose here was too busy chatting to you when you two were filling up to realise that we haven't got a full tank."

"So…"

"So we haven't got any petrol," Al said, reaching around to flick Rose on the temple. "I mean, we've got enough to just about get us off the motorway, but after that…"

"_Woah_, so the car is going to crash?" I asked, alarmed.

Alice shook her head, and Rose laughed at my reaction. "No," she explained, "But it does mean that we've got to get off this road. Now."

"Crap."

* * *

The sun was beginning to disappear when the car came to a final stop and we all clambered out. We had decided that there was enough space in the car for two people to sleep because of the Undetectable Extension charm, and that the other two would sleep in the tent that Al had borrowed from one of his Muggle neighbours.

"Girls in the car, boys in the tent?" Rose suggested, shooting me a smirk. I scowled.

Albus' jaw dropped. "No way! _You're _the ones who didn't fill it up properly," he exclaimed, pointing at Rose and, to my horror, me.

Despite our protests – "Can't we just make the car bigger?" "No, we're doing this _the Muggle way_, and you need to suffer!" – Rose and I were resigned to the fact that we'd be spending the night in a Muggle tent. Together.

"It probably won't be so bad, you know," said Rose, probably to reassure herself more than me, "I've heard that Muggle camping's quite fun."

The four of us walked away from the now useless car through the trees. We had driven off the motorway a while ago and onto some smaller roads, stopping on the close of a forest. Honestly, we had no clue where we were, because the signs to Exeter had quickly disappeared in our desperation to get away from the main roads. We trampled on twigs and leaves that lay on the ground, tent and bags in hand, until we found a spot that looked suitably flat.

"This looks alright," said Rose, inspecting the area.

"Does it really?" I inquired weakly, wincing at the sight of a large, slimy slug that lay just by my right foot. Alice snickered at my revolted expression.

"Get used to it, mate," said Al patronisingly, swinging an arm around my shoulders, "Breathe in that lovely scent of nature."

I elbowed him sharply in the ribs; he swore and we soon began a jokey fist fight.

"Stop mucking around," Rose ordered, just as I had gotten a hold around Al's head, "How the hell does this tent work?"

I let go of Al and walked over. Rose was holding what looked to be a large piece of blue and black material, with some strings hanging off here and there.

"Merlin," said Alice, coming over and dragging Al with her. "This is going to take a while."

* * *

It did. To be more precise, it took us exactly fifty eight minutes to set up the tent, and by the time we were done, I was quite pleased at the result. I plonked myself down on the ground and stretched languidly, cricking my neck.

Rose, however, was not so happy. "It looks nothing like it's supposed to," she said, studying the instructions that had come with the tent, "That peg's hanging out a bit and the whole thing's lopsided."

"Ah, who cares," said Al, who was lying inside the tent, "It'll be fine."

"Easy for you to say," she shot back, "_You_ aren't the one sleeping in it."

She eventually conceded, after some persuasion, that this was as good as we were ever going to get it.

Alice and Rose went to get the food from the car, along with the little stove that Albus had packed in case of emergency (which this obviously was – we hadn't eaten for two hours).

While they were gone, Albus turned to me. "Soooooo," he said, raising his eyebrows at me, "Sharing a tent with Rose."

I shrugged casually. "Yeah, 'cause you said."

"I'm just saying…do you think she's fit?"

I spluttered for an answer while Al laughed at my expense. "Dude, I'm kidding." He paused for a moment to squint at my reddened face. "Wait – _do you_?"

Fortunately, I was saved from replying as the girls returned. Rose had a bag of food in one hand and an object that I recognised as a mobile phone from my Muggle Studies lessons at school. She passed it to Al.

"Call Teddy," she explained, "Tell him what happened and that we're going to be late."

Al nodded and dialled a number whilst Alice set up the stove, digging out a small frying pan and passing it to me. Al put the phone on something that Rose informed me was called 'loudspeaker', and we all listened to the beeping sounds coming from the phone.

A woman's voice emitted from the speaker. "Hey, you've reached the voicemail of Teddy Lupin, the not-so-attractive husband of Victoire Weasley. If your name is James Sirius Potter please do not call between the times of one o' clock to seven o' clock in the morning, because we are not coming to pick you up from any pub-slash-club whatsoever. Thanks very much, please leave a message."

Rose nodded at Al, who began to speak. "Hey Teddy – uh, Victoire? Anyway, this is Al. Not James. I'm with Rose, Scorp and Alice, and we're kind of maybe very stranded because Rose can't fill up petrol properly. So, yeah. We're stuck in this random forest somewhere, I think the sign said 'Newton Poppleford' or something? I dunno. We're gonna be late."

"Please come and get us if possible!" Rose yelled in the direction of the phone.

* * *

Here's the thing: I really like cooking. I mean, yes, I was essentially brought up with House Elves, but my mum is a great cook, so I've basically been in the kitchen with her since birth.

Albus, being my best mate of seven years, is well aware of this fact, and uses it to his advantage whenever possible. At school, when I would make biscuits in the kitchens whenever I was feeling crappy, he'd nick half of them as soon as they were out of the oven. At my house, I'd cook occasionally and he'd never fail to grab a second helping. Even at his house, he'd play up my cooking skills so much to his mother that I just _had_ to show her, and of course, Al ate all the food.

Anyway, despite this being common knowledge to Al, Rose and Alice had no idea about my culinary hobby. So you can imagine their surprise when I took control of the makeshift kitchen.

"Rose, can you pass me the oil?" I said, holding out a hand whilst grabbing the spatula. She gave it to me and I dashed a bit of it into the pan, nodding approvingly at the sizzling sound. I kneaded in some herbs to four burger patties, making sure that they were properly marinated before putting them on the pan and moving them around a bit, making sure that they were spread out.

When I put the spatula down and turned, Rose was gaping, mouth wide open and a strangely surprised look on her face. "You alright, Rose?" I asked.

She nodded, shutting her mouth briefly before opening it again. "You cook?"

"Um…yeah. I guess." I shrugged, sitting cross-legged on the floor.

"_You_ cook?" She repeated.

I laughed. "Is that so hard to believe?"

Rose blinked. "Sorry," she said, "I dunno, it's just…Scorpius Malfoy, domestic god? Who would have known?"

Albus sat down next to me, rolling his eyes, "Rosie, Scorp's been cooking since he was five, or something."

She took a moment to digest this information, while I stood up again to inspect the burgers. Alice offered me a Butterbeer (seriously, how much food did we pack?) and I accepted it.

Gradually, a smile grew across Rose's face. "Dork face," she said, and I poked her playfully with the end of the spatula.

* * *

Eventually, the food was ready, and we all sat in a circle to eat what was a more than satisfactory meal. The burgers were cooked to perfection – Alice's words, not mine – and we sandwiched them between bread buns filled with a generous amount of ketchup. The smell was so tantalising that I was sure that we were going to be bombarded by all sorts of stray animals clamouring for food, until Albus reminded me that we were in the middle of nowhere and the most exotic thing around were the slugs on the ground.

By the time we were done, the sun had vanished completely, leaving only a few glimmering streaks of gold hovering in the air. We packed up quickly, and Alice and Al retreated to the car for an early night, something which we were all in dire need of due to our laser quest battle earlier that day.

Despite my oncoming exhaustion, I couldn't help but feel nervous when I crawled after Rose into the tent. Looking around, I could now appreciate fully the size of the tent in all its glory: it was tiny. There was just enough space inside for Rose to move into the corner.

"Lucky I'm small," she said, laughing awkwardly, and I smiled before landing on my arse in the middle of the tent.

"Oof." I grunted, moving my long legs aside so that she'd have some room, "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it," she returned good naturedly. "Let's get the sleeping bags."

Manoeuvring around the two-man Muggle tent was no easy feat. It seemed that whichever way I turned, I would be in Rose's way, what with my lengthy limbs and clumsy movements. It was almost ten o' clock when we finally had everything sorted. I had changed outside of the tent behind some trees in order to give Rose some privacy, and when I returned she was dressed in her pyjamas: a baggy tee shirt and a pair of short shorts that made it seem like her legs went on forever.

I gulped.

"Nice PJs," she remarked, smirking at my Chudley Cannons trousers.

Groaning, "Ugh, don't tell me you're a Cannons hater too."

I had had a slight (well, large) obsession with the Chudley Cannons Quidditch team ever since the age of six. To this day I'm still not entirely sure where it originated from – most probably it was a combination of my love of irritating my father, a loyal Falcons fan, of the fact that the Cannons were the underdogs and therefore the best, and my fascination with the colour orange.

"Nah," Rose answered, "My dad's the biggest Cannons fan you'll ever meet; I have about twenty bits of merchandise at home. But I'm a Harpies girl really."

I grinned, seating myself next to her. "Well, that's better than nothing I suppose. The Harpies aren't bad."

She gaped at me. "_Not bad_? The Harpies are fucking amazing, Malfoy, and you'd better admit it or else…"

"Or else what?"

She paused – most likely for a dramatic effect. Then, "I'll tickle you."

A horrified expression appeared on my face. "You wouldn't."

She raised an eyebrow challengingly. "You want to test that?" She held up her fingers and wiggled them. I cringed away.

"Alright, alright," I conceded, "The Harpies are fucking amazing and Rose Weasley is obviously always right."

"Good, good," she hummed, shifting around. Her legs disappeared into her sleeping bag as she shuffled. "That last part wasn't necessary, but thanks all the same." She shot me a cheeky smile, and I winked at her.

* * *

"Are you awake?"

We'd turned out the lights on our wands about twenty minutes before. Rose broke the awkward silence, and I turned my head to look at her, squinting in the darkness.

"Yep." I paused. "Do you snore?"

She let out a little giggle, which made me smile. "Well…"

"_Weasley_."

"I wouldn't know, but judging by the complaints I've had from my roommates for seven years at school, I'd say yes."

I shook my head but grinned all the same. "Great."

"Do you?"

"Of course not. I am of the upmost politeness to my roomies."

I could just about make out a scowl on her face. "Snoring has nothing to do with politeness. In fact, it's quite comforting."

"Comforting?" I repeated, laughing.

She smiled. "Yeah! It sounds like…"

"A tuba symphony."

"I was going to say a baby elephant, but sure."

I settled my head back into my pillow, and a relaxed quiet fell between us for a moment that somehow seemed to stretch, so that I had the impression that we had been laying together for hours. As I listened to her steady breaths, I couldn't help but feel inexplicably lucky that it was Rose who was lying next to me.

Without thinking, I spoke, my voice low and soft in drowsiness. "Hey, Rose?"

"Hmmm?" She was barely even there; just slipping between the clutches of consciousness and sleep.

"Friends?"

Through the darkness, she felt around for my hand. She squeezed it and I beamed stupidly, although she couldn't see it.

Just as my eyes closed, I heard her whisper a reply. "Friends."

* * *

**Hey guys! Hope you enjoyed the chapter (writing Scorp and Rose sharing a tent was so much fun ;)) Sorry about the wait - now that we're back at school we might be a little slower with updating but reviews will always spur us on! (I know I'm so subtle at hinting) - Dee**


	10. Chapter 9

The next morning I woke up after what hardly could have been called a good night's sleep. I'd been woken up by screeching owls, cars driving by and what must have been Albus getting up in the middle of the night to take a piss. I glanced at my watch, which read half five in the morning, eyes falling over Scorpius, who was undeniably attractive when he slept. His entire face was relaxed, hair flopping over his eyes which flickered as he began to stir. His lips were slightly parted. I felt myself redden, thanked Merlin that Scorpius was not awake to see me, and turned over in an attempt to fall back to sleep.

Just as I was drifting off, Scorpius murmured something in his sleep and rolled over. I froze. The idiot was now lying uncomfortably close to me - fuck, we were practically spooning - and I could feel his breath on the back of my neck. I attempted to ignore him, and how uncomfortably hot it had gotten in my sleeping bag, but it was all really too much. Cursing Scorpius Malfoy's attractiveness in my head, I tried out various positions for minimum awkwardness, but he was like a bloody limpet. Eventually I admitted defeat and settled back down next to him, nodding off.

"Holy shit!"

I woke up to the unmistakeable sound of Alice's voice. She sounded scandalised, I noted drowsily. I forced myself awake, and came to the stomach-dropping conclusion that it was not a pillow that my head rested on, but Scorpius' chest. And - oh Merlin - his hand was resting on top of my head.

I sat bolt upright, ignoring the head rush and feeling completely mortified. Scorpius was evidently in the same boat.

"It's not- we're not- I mean..!"

Alice silenced him. "Whatever, Scorp. Go back to sleep, I just need Rose to help me with breakfast."

I gave her a look, but followed her out into the field.

"You could have knocked," I said, as we walked towards the car.

"You can't knock on a tent, and besides, I didn't know my best mate and Scorpius were shagging in it."

"We weren't!" I shrieked. "I was just-"

"I know," she replied, "I'm just winding you up to distract myself from the main issue."

"Which is?"

"Um.." Alice pulled a similar face to when she anticipated me hitting her. "There's a problem with the food,"

"What!" I burst out. "Are the sausages okay? Please say the sausages are okay,"

"Rose, forget sausages, there's no food at all."

* * *

Half an hour later, Alice and I were on a Food Finding Mission. Okay, less of a mission, more of a long slow trek in the middle of nowhere with no map. It was only six in the morning, but my stomach was already growling at the mere prospect of no breakfast.

"You know, the rest of us probably could have survived until lunch," Alice said as we wandered along the road.

"I do _not_ skip breakfast."

"Or any other meal, for that matter," she muttered, and I shoved her into a bush.

A short while after, we entered a village, and I practically sprinted towards the corner shop, already imagining all the kinds of breakfast foods it could have. I was planning a bacon, eggs and sausage sandwich combo when I read the sign on the door.

"Closed!" I exclaimed, "Who opens a corner shop at _seven_, for fuck's sake!"

"Rose, you're usually still asleep at seven," Alice commented.

I ignored her and tried the door, just to be sure. An idea dawned on me.

"Alice, can you keep watch for Muggles?"

"Sure," Alice paused, frowning at me suspiciously, "Wait, why?"

"_Alohamora_,"I whispered, and the door clicked open.

* * *

"For the last time, Alice, it's not theft if you're paying for it!" I said, grabbing a loaf of bread to add to my growing pile of food, "Now, get to work and scramble their CCTV cameras,"

Alice sighed, but complied, casting spells at the offending cameras.

"This must be the most rebellious thing you've ever done," I said, setting down the correct coins on the counter.

"Yes, well having a teacher as a father does dampen my rebellious spirit somewhat," Alice retorted.

We exited the shop with a suspiciously large bundle of groceries.

"Not a word of this to Albus," I said as we left the village.

"My lips are sealed," she replied. "Though I imagine he wouldn't have a problem with us breaking and entering a shop, only that we didn't do things 'The Muggle Way'."

In what seemed like a short while later, we arrived back at the campsite, to find Albus just exiting the car looking groggy.

"Hey," he said, rubbing his eyes, "How was sleeping with Scorpius?"

"_Don't phrase it like that_,"I spat. If I hadn't been famished with hunger, I would have hit him then and there.

"I dunno," Alice said as she began to set up the fire. "The two of them looked pretty cosy this morning…"

Albus' eyes widened in shock and I seriously considered murdering Alice.

"She's joking," I said "Honestly, Albus, can you imagine _me _shagging Scorpius?"

Of course, just at that moment Scorpius got out of the tent and blushed crimson to his ears.

"We didn't- I swear!" he stuttered.

Alice grinned maliciously. "Oh, I'm not so sure-"

"SHUT IT!" I yelled, "We _did not_ shag, we have no intentions of shagging, and I am fucking _starving_."

Albus knew better than to argue with me when I was hungry, so quickly made me a bacon sandwich to appease me. I don't think I've ever tasted anything better. Though as I sat and ate it, while Albus attempted to contact Teddy again, the taste was slightly marred by my thoughts. Did I really mean what I said? After all, 'no intentions of shagging' sounded very definite in retrospect, and if Scorpius was going to keep being so frustratingly attractive I was going to have to re-visit my proposition.

After I had eaten enough to think clearly, we tidied up the tents and put out the campfire, as Teddy had informed us that he was coming to get us right away with a tank of petrol. We were mostly silent, whether from tiredness or as a kind of reaction to my outburst it was hard to say. I kept stealing glances at Scorpius, who was wearing an unreadable expression. Guilt settled in my stomach and I allowed myself to think that maybe his mood was due to my comment. Oh God, what if he actually liked me?

Before I could freak myself out any more, I heard the sound of an engine.

"Teddy!" Albus exclaimed, and ran to the road to look for him. The noise was getting louder, but there was no sign of Teddy on the road.

"Look up!" Alice yelled, pointing to the sky and sure enough, Teddy was sitting on his motorbike much like he was on a road, except for the fact he was about forty feet in the air. Scorpius' mouth fell open. I grinned, but I had to admit Teddy looked pretty damn cool. He had an undercut of bright blue hair, his preferred shade, and was wearing a leather jacket. I also knew from experience that you would only just be able to count the number of piercings he had on two hands. He pressed a button and began to descend and soon landed on the road, skidding and crashing head-first into a hedge.

"Oh shit," I said, and we ran over, to where he was already sitting up and dusting himself off.

"It's alright, happens all the time," he said with a lopsided grin. Before I could say anything he scooped me up into a huge hug. My head was buried in the woolly jumper he had on, as Teddy must be one of the tallest and lankiest people I know (and that's saying something).

"Rosie!" he exclaimed, "I've missed you!"

He did the same to Al and Alice, then stopped and looked at Scorpius.

"Scorpy! It's been ages!" he said, pulling him into a hug which took Scorpius completely by surprise. I had to bite my lip to stop myself from laughing. It was the most awkward thing I had ever seen, which is saying something.

We pulled the bike upright and wheeled it to our campsite, Al filling in details of our trip to Teddy, who was as enthusiastic as I'd ever remembered him. I walked up to Scorpius, who was helping Albus fill up the car.

"How do you know Teddy?" I asked.

"We're cousins, or something like that," he said, looking over to where Teddy was admiring the Undetectable Extension Charm, and attempting to haul his bike into the boot. "He used to babysit me when I was little."

I imagined Teddy hanging out at the very sombre Malfoy Manor and tried my hardest not to laugh. I failed, letting a snicker slip out and Scorpius rolled his eyes at me as we climbed into the car.

Unfortunately the charm did not extend to the back of the car, so Alice, Scorpius and I all had to squash in the back together. Once again I was uncomfortably close to Scorpius and feeling rather warm, though fortunately it wasn't just me as Teddy had taken off his jacket and rolled his sleeves up, so we could see his tattoos. I could see Scorpius trying not to gape in awe (the Goth Phase Scorpius was definitely still in him somewhere) at the sleeve of intricate designs that shimmered and moved about his arm. In pride of place were the Hufflepuff badger, a werewolf and the moon, which I knew was accurate to whatever phase it was in at that moment. My thoughts were interrupted by Scorpius elbowing me in the chest as we went over a speed bump.

"Merlin's fucking beard!" I yelled, nearly causing Albus to swerve off the road.

"What?" he said.

"Scorpius elbowed my fucking boob," I muttered.

"Sorry!" Scorpius looked mortified; his apparent default expression.

"It's fine, I'll pay you back by kicking you in the balls when we get out of the car."

Teddy snorted.

"Are those two always like that?" he said.

"Like what?" I interjected defensively.

"Just…nothing," he said, sharing a knowing look with Alice. What on Earth was he implying?

* * *

A short while later we arrived in Exeter, and Victoire greeted us with tea and cake in their little flat, which was above a bakery and therefore always had a vague whiff of freshly baked bread about it. We recounted the journey so far, with everyone interrupting each other.

"So sorry I didn't pick up my phone in the evening," Teddy eventually said, looking guilty, "I was busy."

"Yeah, we were both 'busy', if you know what I mean," Victoire said, giving us a wink. Teddy's hair turned fuchsia.

"Vic!" he groaned, with his head in his hands. "Honestly, I can't believe _I'm_ the mature one in this relationship."

"This is coming from the man who bought a tortoise and knitted it a hat."

"WHAT!?" We all chorused.

* * *

To my disbelief, Teddy had actually bought a tortoise, named it Brian (of all names?) and knitted it not just one hat, but several. He retrieved it from its tank and brought it to us, and we all sat around admiring it in the living room. It was wearing an orange beanie and was singularly the strangest and cutest thing I have ever seen.

"You knitted this yourself?" Alice asked, as Brian sat on her lap munching a lettuce leaf.

"Yeah, he's like the best knitter in our family, besides Grandma Molly," Albus replied.

Victoire came into the living room and sighed.

"Look at you all, fawning over a bloody tortoise," she said.

Teddy grinned. "Told you they'd like him."

However we soon realised that there was only so much a tortoise could do before it got boring, so began to organise things to do.

"Can we go to the cinema?" Scorpius asked mid-discussion.

"Sure," I said "But why?"

He looked sheepish, "Well, I've never actually been-"

"Scorpius!" I yelled, "Where have you been all your life?"

"Cooped up in a dusty mansion, mostly," he replied.

"Alright, the sob story's won me over," Alice said "Though I'm still thinking you're just using that as an excuse to get cosy with Rose in a darkened room."

We all laughed at Scorpius, myself included. I felt awful; it seemed like I was purposefully trying to push him away from me, play off our (hopefully mutual) attraction as one big joke. But for once in my life I didn't feel like joking. Dammit, of all the people in the world to get a crush on, I just had to get one on Scorpius bloody Malfoy.


End file.

Harry Potter, Humor, Romance